Warriors observation: Horford is a perfect complement, Moody’s shooting improves, and Cole reaches double height

The Warriors looked good in their preseason win over the Lakers, with Stephen Curry, Al Horford and Moses Moody all showing signs of the Warriors' potential for the new season.

The Golden State Warriors opened the preseason with a 111-103 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, who were without LeBron James and Luka Doncic. While it's impossible to get any season-related news, the Golden State Warriors looked balanced and smooth in their first game of the season.

Warriors stars Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler were limited to around 15 minutes. They had moments that were reminiscent of what made them such a threat late last season. Not to mention signing Al Horford, who seems happy with his new team.

As the Warriors basketball season gets underway, here are three observations on how their season will play out.

Al Horford is the ceiling for the Golden State Warriors

With the basketball Horford has played his entire career, his first time with the Warriors he looked like the player he has been with the Warriors for the past decade. In 14 minutes of preseason play, Horford scored 3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and a plus-minus of +13.

He does what the Warriors lacked, Horford runs the floor and finds his teammates in the paint for buckets, is in all the right spots defensively as a rim protector, and provides the offensive spacing the Golden State Warriors needed when they recruited him to the team. In the postgame press conference, Steve Kerr shared his impressions of Horford's debut.

"Size, shooting ability, passing ability, this is what we lack. He is a good supplement. His golf IQ is very high. He is always in the right position. He has 3 blocks. He rotates perfectly and recognizes the opponent's strategy. , he knows what he needs to do."

While the Warriors' ability to keep the 39-year-old center healthy throughout the season will largely depend on how they maintain it, Horford showed what this team can look like if they stay completely intact. Kerr said before the game that the Warriors would emulate the way Joe Mazzula and the Boston Celtics managed Horford last season. That means resting Horford on back-to-backs and a tight schedule.

Moses Moody's shooting

Although Moses Moody performed well when the Golden State Warriors ended the season with a record of 23 wins and 8 losses, he did not seem to attract much attention. After experiencing a torn ligament in his right thumb, he returned in the first game and surrendered 7 of 9 shots and 5 of 7 shots from beyond the arc. He scored 19 points. After the game, he talked about how he felt shooting after having surgery this summer.

"Great, I think the surgery and everything ended up being a good thing for me as I healed and getting my thumb back to its original position helped me a lot by slowing down and noticing every detail in my jump shot." Will be their primary point-of-attack defender this season, Kerr talked about how Moody improved the Warriors' small-ball lineup.

"What I like about this small lineup is that it really greatly improved Moses Moody's destructive power on the defensive end, and he showed it very quickly. He got a few fouls. It didn't matter. He defended the pick-and-roll a few times. You can feel his presence, and his shooting is very good." "

Moody is a member of the Warriors' efficient five-man lineup, Curry, Green, Butler and Podemski. He is mainly responsible for marking the opponent's point guard and opening up the space through his own shooting. After the game, Curry talked about how Moody has performed in the past year. Ho developed into an important part of the Golden State Warriors.

"It's his confidence, which is the biggest challenge for a young guy when you don't know your playing time," he said, stressing that Moody has been mentally prepared to handle high-end innings by going through different scenarios. "

Mapping Steve Kerr's rotation

The preseason rotation is about the same as the change in the blue jeans you found at the thrift store. It doesn't mean much. But the Warriors are confident that they have the depth of the rotation and will be in the next season. There are many choices in front of the same opponent. In this preseason game, Kerr tried the proven lineup of Curry, Green and Butler, and arranged a combination of Horford, Moody, Bodemski and Kuminga around them. These seven players will definitely become the main members of Kerr's rotation.

But Cole also threw out the double-high lineup of Horford and Post, which he hinted at earlier. This lineup provides the Warriors with considerable length and shooting ability, although it seems a bit awkward when Post and Horford switch to guard the Lakers power forward. After the game, Kerr talked about the two big men playing together.

“It’s fun to watch because you have two really big guys on the floor together, and having that size and shooting ability at the same time is a really fun combination. "

"We had some defensive battles with them, and you could see that their defense was very wide. At the end of the second quarter, we had a good fast break. Through zone defense, we got three or four steals, and the movement on the court was very smooth. Both guys have a good understanding of the game and are good passers, so it is really interesting to watch this combination play. "

The preseason is all about experimentation, and the Warriors will do more of that on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers.